A New Kind of Science                                  Return to Book Review Page                   Return to Home Page

By Stephen Wolfram

Wolfram Media Inc., 2002

 

If only a finite number of basic physical particles and forces that influence them exist, great knowledge should be possible from computer simulations that operate on a limited number of “objects” (that represent the finite number of basic particles) using a finite number of “rules” (that represent the finite number of forces that exist in nature).

 

Created by arguably the most mathematically gifted individual alive today, this book is remarkable in a number of ways.  Unfortunately, one of them is its size: a formidable 1,200 pages. Stephen Wolfram’s revolutionary ideas would have been better served by a volume one third the size of this remarkable tome, “A New Kind of Science.”  At the very least, multiple volumes published over time would have made his ideas less taxing on the intellectual digestive system.  Some color illustrations also would likely have contributed some dimension to his work.  But issues of mass are muted by the creative, enlightening material therein.  Also, Wolfram now has the full contents of his book, along contributions from interested scholars and other followers of his work, on a WOLFRAMSCIENCE.COM web site.

 

But to the reader who braves the plentitude of pages in Wolfram’s volume, a new kind of science is indeed revealed.  Heretofore, the process of science has primarily been:

 

  1. Study an object or process and learn the phenomena that lead to its creation and learn how to control or replicate the phenomena.
  2. Design a phenomenon that results in a desired process.

 

Thanks data processing, we can invert the above processes.  A phenomenon can be synthesized and a computer simulation created that runs it through millions or billions of computer iterations, and then match the output to objects or processes found in nature or even in art or human interaction.  This opens the possibility of discovering explanations and variations that might take centuries to evolve naturally.  Every scientist, including those in the social sciences, should become aware of this process, if only to give them a new approach to their endeavors.

 

A gap of decades is not uncommon between invention or discovery of technology and material progress that touch the lives of the masses.  Digital computer and the DNA are recent examples.  Wolfram’s scholarship potentially reveals the “DNA” of everything--every imaginable physical, biological and behavioral phenomenon.  With potential as broad as our vision and imagination, it will take the work of many bright and creative collaborators in the years ahead to uncover the limitless benefits of the Stephen Wolfram’s new science.